Most beginning playwrights get their first productions in the rough. But even though J. Nicole Brooks' debut drama, "Black Diamond," lies somewhat outside the core aesthetic of the Lookingglass Theatre, this Chicago troupe truly has thrown all of its heart and resources into creating a high-profile, big-budget, fearless, pumped-up, powerfully acted, massively energetic and thoroughly expansive realization of Brooks' eclectic vision. In recent Chicago theater history, at least, no...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barclays Plc breached a derivative agreement with a Black Diamond Capital Management unit and must return an estimated $297 million in collateral to the hedge fund, a divided New York state appeals court ruled on Thursday. The Connecticut-based fund's BDC Finance LLC filed a lawsuit against the bank in 2008, claiming Barclays had defaulted on a $40 million collateral call made at the height of the financial crisis. Barclays disagreed...

In the photograph, she is wearing a red tube top, gold jewelry and tight blue jeans. Her name is Black Diamond, and she is surrounded by the women she leads -- the Women's Artillery Commandos, a rebel unit fighting in Liberia's civil war -- and they, too, are dressed as if ready for a night at a club. Nobody is smiling. Black Diamond levels a steady gaze at the camera. A woman to her right -- in a tiger-stripped outfit and a white-lace camisole -- is casually holding an AK-47; an African...

Name: Distance FL Z-Poles What they are: Aluminum walking poles made by Black Diamond, one of the nation's leading makers of outdoor and adventure gear. Among the fastest-growing sellers in its business are trekking poles, which speaks to the appeal of poles for both extreme and less extreme hikers and travelers. How they work: The poles are constructed as three-section foldable shafts; to assemble, fit the bottom section into the middle and the middle into the top. The top section slides up until...

Mike Utley, the former Detroit Lions lineman, shouts, "Bust loose!" and pushes off on his outriggers, catapulting down Vail Mountain's black-diamond run just like everyone else. "I'm out here playing," Utley said Thursday after he came to a stop on Riva Ridge. "I need a rush. I need a challenge. I need my heart rate to get up. Skiing's not football. But, hey, I'm playing again." In a November 1991 game against the Los Angeles Rams, Utley crashed to the ground and crushed his sixth and...

May 2 (Reuters) - Black Diamond Group, a provider of workforce housing and energy services, raised its monthly dividend by 9 percent to 6 Canadian cents per month. The new dividend will be effective from May onwards -- for payments starting from June -- the company said in a statement.

Off with the shoes and out with the laptop. Dump everything in those sturdy gray plastic bins that everyone is grabbing and hoarding. Get barked at by grumpy TSA agents who need to see your boarding pass and ID. You know the drill. And you know that the security line at the airport moves only as fast as its slowest member. That means waiting for the beleaguered mother with three toddlers, bravely attempting to fold the stroller, wrestle the baby bag, strip the toddlers of any offending articles and fish out...

No matter how much you love Alice in Chains , it's hard to imagine the rockers without Layne Staley, who formed much of the band's tortured soul identity. This is even more so for the band members, we'd imagine. But, Alice (with William DuVall taking over Staley's vocals) has regrouped since Staley's death, moved forward with "Black Gives Way to Blue" and continues the music as the "BlackDiamondSkye" tour comes to town with the Deftones ("Diamond Eye") and Mastodon ("Crack...

SUNDAY "The Diary of Anne Frank" (Steppenwolf Theater Company, 1635 N. Halsted St.; 312-335-1650 or www.steppenwolf.org). This won't be your father's Anne Frank. Auteur director Tina Landau has picked Wendy Kesselman's new, darker, more truthful version of the iconic tale of a young girl hiding from the Nazis and writing about her fears and feelings in her diary. Ensemble members Robert Breuler, Francis Guinan, Mariann Mayberry, Yasen Peyankov and Alan Wilder all are in the high-profile cast.

Mike Kupfer , CEO of Northbrook-based Black Diamond Technologies, was riding the train from his hotel to downtown Vancouver Friday when another passenger spotted his USA Luge cap and asked him about the crash. Kupfer, a sponsor of the U.S. Luge team, hadn't heard about it, and the passenger didn't know anything beyond the fact that a luger had been seriously injured. Once downtown, Kupfer watched from inside a store a televised news conference about the death...

A new play about Internet predators co-written and directed by ensemble member David Schwimmer; a riff on Jean Racine's "Phaedra" -- titled "Fedra: Queen of Hell" -- reset in Haiti; and a piece about Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun, make up the three shows in the Lookingglass Theatre's 2009-10 subscription season, officially announced by the theater Monday. Slated for spring 2010, Schwimmer's "Trust," written with Andy Bellin, stems from the sitcom star's longtime...

A new play about Internet predators co-written and directed by ensemble member David Schwimmer; a riff on Jean Racine's "Phaedra" -- titled "Fedra: Queen of Hell" -- reset in Haiti; and a piece about Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun, make up the three shows in the Lookingglass Theatre's 2009-10 subscription season, officially announced by the theater Monday. Slated for spring 2010, Schwimmer's "Trust," written with Andy Bellin, stems from the sitcom star's longtime...

Name: Distance FL Z-Poles What they are: Aluminum walking poles made by Black Diamond, one of the nation's leading makers of outdoor and adventure gear. Among the fastest-growing sellers in its business are trekking poles, which speaks to the appeal of poles for both extreme and less extreme hikers and travelers. How they work: The poles are constructed as three-section foldable shafts; to assemble, fit the bottom section into the middle and the middle into the top. The top section slides up until...

Off with the shoes and out with the laptop. Dump everything in those sturdy gray plastic bins that everyone is grabbing and hoarding. Get barked at by grumpy TSA agents who need to see your boarding pass and ID. You know the drill. And you know that the security line at the airport moves only as fast as its slowest member. That means waiting for the beleaguered mother with three toddlers, bravely attempting to fold the stroller, wrestle the baby bag, strip the toddlers of any offending articles and fish out...

- Denotes new this week CITY THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE: Spell this witty and hopelessly optimistic show and our ever-anxious, ever-striving city "M-A-T-C-H." The official Chicago production is much like the current Broadway production, replete with the same dead-on direction from James Lapine, and the original top-drawer New York creative team. And the Drury Lane is both big enough to offer a sense of occasion and small enough to provide intimacy....

The final Find It! clue was a true gem. Most readers correctly guessed coal as this week's Find It! rock, but many opted for Braidwood or Coal City as the destination. More than 100 readers got it right: the memorial to the Diamond Mine Disaster in Diamond, Ill. In 1883, 74 men and boys drowned in Diamond Mine No. 2, one of many mines dug beneath the coal-rich prairie 60 miles southwest of Chicago. According to newspaper reports, heavy February rains and snowmelt flooded the fields above the...

Alex Fernandez is in no imminent danger of losing his spot in the rotation despite Friday night's shaky performance against the A's, manager Gene Lamont said Saturday. Fernandez, maybe a little jittery in his first start of the year, gave up five runs on seven hits-including homers by Mark McGwire and Jamie Quirk-in 3 2/3 innings of the 6-5 loss. "I really liked what I saw of him in spring training after he got it going," said Lamont. "He's going to do a good job."...

- Denotes new this week CITY THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE: Spell this witty and hopelessly optimistic show and our ever-anxious, ever-striving city "M-A-T-C-H." The official Chicago production is much like the current Broadway production, replete with the same dead-on direction from James Lapine, and the original top-drawer New York creative team. And the Drury Lane is both big enough to offer a sense of occasion and small enough to provide intimacy....

Mountains, like meatloaf, should never be examined too closely. I read somewhere that there are 26 million downhill skiers in the United States, which only confirms my opinion that the crazies are now on the same lap with the rest of us. Anyone who will strap boards on his feet, allow himself to be hauled to the edge of oblivion and deliberately plunge downward is either nuts or a Norwegian. I take no pride in confessing that I have done it myself, paying dearly for the...